Commissioner Josh Shapiro, Montgomery County’s top elected leader, calls Philadelphia’s presence on the list of 15 remaining candidate cities a good first step, but he says there’s still a long way to go.

With at least six inches of snow forecast for a large part of the county and winds that could bring down power lines and trees, county commissioner Josh Shapiro is urging residents to sign up for “Ready Notify Pa.,” to get emergency alerts.

County Commissioner Josh Shapiro says the damage threshold the county needs to meet is $2.8 million. He says residents should report any storm damage to their municipality and then the municipalities should include those numbers with any damage to public property as a result of the storm.

County commissioner Josh Shapiro says the declaration allows the county to coordinate with the state emergency management agency and bypass the bid process to secure goods to help them deal with the aftermath of the storm.